Another episode, another character introduced! Now our girls can buy bikes from the adult loli bicycle shop owner!
(Spoilers in this episode)
It turns out I was wrong. The ojou-sama wasn’t properly listening to the principal and was jumping to conclusions. The Bicycle Club is not being shut down after all! The principal elaborates that she’s granted the Bicycle Club provosional acceptance as a club, but they need to do actually accomplish something that demonstrates their merit as a club. Otherwise they’ll become just a circle and they will get shut down. The time limit is three months.
The owner of the bicycle shop, Cycle Flats, have returned from her trip to Taiwan and helps teach the girls about bikes. She then lets them try out all of the bikes. Everyone seems to have found (and purchased) bikes with which they like, but Hiromi, despite finding a bike she really likes, is too broke to buy it.
Shiki-sensei then shares a pamplet the principal handed her. Perhaps the girls can enter this race, win it, and then prove their merit as a club!
Thoughts on this episode:
- Short adults are a mainstay in anime.
- I thought that the principal was a little relentless with the three month deadline, but rules are rules. At least she gave them a bit of a helping hand by giving Shiki-sensei the bike race phamplet.
- Just like in Ami in Long Riders!, Hiromi can’t afford to buy her dream bike. That’s too bad. Perhaps she’ll start working a part-time job.
- The pacing in this show is slow but acceptable. It looks like they’ll be participating in the race next week.
- This series really teaches viewers a lot about bikes! The segment after the ED teaches us about changing out flat tires, yay.
The Lily Garden 
A quick editing things first, I think that you’re missing the end of one of your paragraphs? It currently says “Otherwise they’ll become just a circle and they will get shut down. The time limit” and I’m guessing you wanted to say something about the time limit.
I liked this episode more than the previous one (well… there were more bikes, I’m pretty happy). Hiromi has expensive taste! It’s definitely in the price range that road bikes can be (new bikes can run between ~$400-$10,000), but it’s a bit dear for a beginner.
I’m surprised in the section at the end that they didn’t cover puncture repair or reinflating your tyre (especially as they could try and push the pricey single use canisters like Ami tried to use to fix her bike and burst her tyres), but I suppose there’s a limit to the amount of time in the segment. It was a good primer on how to get the tyre off and locate any possible things which could be stuck in the tube though.
Also, the last two Long Riders episodes just came out! I’m looking forward to being able to watch them. It’s really weird, but I’ve actually found myself missing Ami and co in these few weeks and I’m excited to see the end of their adventures.
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Mmmm thanks for catching that!
I’ll have to agree with you about this episode being better. It must be the bikes! Hiromi has an eye for the pricey stuff, huh? Well, the owner said the price is pretty good for its quality so I’m pretty curious about the actual numbers.
Mmm they really just covered a very small (yet useful) part in regards to flat tires and all, but time constraints are just too hard to overcome, I guess! Oh, I wasn’t aware the canisters Ami used were expensive (I would bet Hinako and the shop keeper talked her into buying some)
Oh wow, you’re right! Thanks for letting me know! You know what, I kind of missed them, too. Two more episodes! Make them count, girls!
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The canisters aren’t super dear in and of themselves (they seem to be in the $3-$10 range), but if you were having problems with them, they add up, especially in comparison to a bike pump, which may set you back ~$50 upfront (for a decent one, I’m sure there are dearer ones and there’s definitely cheaper ones of lesser quality), but can be used as many times as you need. The pros of the canisters are for people who want to travel really light, say as someone who was riding their road bike in a race. They’re also a lot faster than pumping up your tyres. To be honest, I don’t think that Ami really needed them and would have been better off with a lightweight portable pump, but you know her friends like to egg her on into buying expensive cycling gear.
I want to say that Hinako’s bike was 400,000 yen (~$4,000, it’s not perfect exchange rate but striking off two zeroes is an easy way to get an idea of what a price is in dollars), although I may be remembering wrong and it was only 40,000 yen. Having all these extra zeroes is a bit confusing!
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Oh yes, I can see how the costs of those add up. A newbie like Ami probably didn’t need the canisters…but maybe Hinako was conditioning her for long-distance biking! Or perhaps she just pushed her own preferences onto Ami. They do seem really convenient, but you’re probably right about the pump.
Oh geez, Hiromi (we are talking about Hiromi and the twintailed senpai from Long Riders, right?) She’s got her eyes on the prize! The excess zeroes throws me off, too!
By the way, I learned a new way to say pricey thanks to you. In might incorporate dear into my daily speech.
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